Thousands online have shared an image of a Syrian child with her hands raised in surrender - but what is the story behind it?Those sharing it were moved by the fear in the child's eyes, as she seems to staring into the barrel of a gun. It wasn't a gun, of course, but a camera, and the moment was captured for all to see. But who took the picture and what is the story behind it?It began to go viral Tuesday last week, when it was tweeted by Nadia Abu Shaban, a photojournalist based in Gaza. The image quickly spread across the social network. "I'm actually weeping", "unbelievably sad", and "humanity failed", the comments read. The original post has been retweeted more than 11,000 times. On Friday the image was shared on Reddit, prompting another outpouring of emotion. It's received more than 5,000 upvotes, and 1,600 comments.

“I was using a telephoto lens, and she thought it was a weapon,” Sağırlı said, “İ realized she was terrified after I took it, and looked at the picture, because she bit her lips and raised her hands. Normally kids run away, hide their faces or smile when they see a camera.”Gaza-based photojournalist, Nadia Abu Shaban, recently tweeted the photo, which made its way to Reddit before finally nestling snugly in viral territory.The girl in the photo was a 4-year-old named Hudea. Along with her mother and two siblings, Hudea took refuge at a camp on the Turkish border. Her father died in a bombing in their home in Hama, a city in west-central Syria.

It was found that Sağırlı has worked for this newspaper for 25 years. The clipping reads:Her face tightens immediately. She bites her lower lip and slowly raises her hands. She stands still without a word. It isn’t easy to console the child who thinks that the camera looking at her is a gun. Her name is Hudea… She is only 4 years old. She lost her dad in the bombing of Hama. She took refuge at the Atme camp at the Turkish border with her mom and [two] siblings.This tragic picture paints a thousand words — as well as six years of civil war, ten million refugees, and one major problem with war.But the mystery number is, how many more four-year-olds should be born into this kind of life?